Faced with the twin problems of rising costs and a growing deficit, how to get more value out of what the nation spends on healthcare was the hot topics at the National Health Insurance Civic Surveil-lance's (NHISCA) one-day forum on Wednesday.
Currently, care providers are paid by the National Health Insurance (NHI) according to the amount of medical services they administer.
Experts argued that this hurts incentives and results in substandard medical outcomes.
"We have to expect self-interested behavior," said National Yang-Ming University's associate professor Lee Yue-chune (李玉春).
"As long as we only pay for service, we are going to have problems with overmedicalization and not enough attention on preventative care," he said.
Lee said the trend in OECD nations is toward paying for performance rather than services.
She added that by "putting patients into diagnosis-related groups (DRG), we can compare the efficiency of medical care providers more transparently."
Another topic discussed was the NHI's pharmaceutical policy.
In a recent move to curb costs, the NHI lowered the price it pays for drugs across the board, with the exception of drugs which are still under patent.
"The NHI has too much power over which drugs are allowed or not allowed on the market" said Huang Weng-foung (
"We need more options for those who wish to pay out of their own pockets," Huang added.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wang Jung-chang (
However, there might be a limit to what efficiency-increasing and loophole-closing measures can do for the NHI.
"The US spends roughly 15 percent of its GDP on medical care while we spend only six percent," said Department of Health Deputy Minister Chen Shih-chung (陳時中).
"We need to seriously look at whether we're investing enough in the health of our nation," Chen said.
"We know it is inevitable that medical care costs will rise," Wang said. "But people will only willingly open their pockets when they trust that the extra money they pay will be put to good use."
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and